Bench(mark)

We took down the “TV shrine” the other weekend. With its wood, we constructed a little bench thingy for the boy. My intent was to make it a sort of very small, very safe, very stable climbing thing. Though it turned out looking more like a miniature picnic table instead.

No matter. It looks acceptable. It required sawing, drilling, inserting screws, a little after-the-fact planning, sanding, and treating: all basic skills I haven’t used in years, and never rigorously at that.

Again, no matter. I did it. We did it.

I have already hatched plans for something requiring much more time, money, and work. That’s staying on the backburner for now. That’s fine. What’s important is taking the step at all, getting a small project totally completed, feeling the accomplishment of a job acceptably done.

Do you have a million projects and zero completion? Do something small. Set a small goal, something you can finish in a day, or a weekend. Then GET IT DONE.

Is it going to last? Is it going to redirect and enhance all my future work? Well not directly, but yes, it's going to improve the next work. Because this work got done in the first place.

Sometimes, the best practice is to just practice. Just show up, go through the motions, and call it a day. The point is to keep doing it.

The great thing about Inktober, for example, is it encourages daily practice. I cheat a little. I get multiple days done at a time. Because I’ll forget or something otherwise. I also don’t put more than a few minutes into each drawing. I spit out the first idea that pops into my head and move on. Sure. They suck compared to a pro’s. No matter. I have completed a thing. That was my bench, or rather benchmark, for that day.

What’s your bench(mark)?